CIS 262: Automata, Computability, and Complexity (Fall 2014)

Overview:

In this class we will be learning about the mathematical science
behind Computer Science -- the study of what things can and cannot be
computed even
in principle. We will start by considering a very simple
model of computation -- the finite automaton. This model captures what
can be computed in finite memory, but is already surprisingly powerful
-- as we will see, it is sufficient to capture regular languages.
This model will give us our first taste of how to reason about the
limitations of computation. We will then study a much more powerful
model of computation, the Turing
machine, which captures (as far as we know) the power to
compute anything that we can compute by physical means, by any method.
Surprisingly, we will see that this model of computation still has
dramatic, fundamental limitations. Finally, we will consider the
question of computation with limited resources. What can we compute
subject to the constraint that the running time of our algortihm must
be polynomial in the size of the input (the complexity class P)? What
is the power of non-determinism (the complexity class NP)? How can we
cope with these limitations, if they apply to problems that we need to
solve?

Staff:

Logistics:

Class Time and Location: Tuesday/Thursday 12:00-1:30, Towne 100Recitation: Monday 4:30-5:30 DRLB A1Prerequisites: CIS 160 and mathematical maturity. Course Software: We will be using Piazza
for questions. Ask and answer questions here (this counts towards your
participation grade). You can turn in assignments and see grades using Canvas.Textbook: Introduction to the Theory of Computation (3rd Edition), by Michael Sipser.